The Detroit Writing Room Book Club

Become a Detroit Writing Room Book Club Member and get access to all 12 author talks in 2021!

Members will have the opportunity to introduce themselves before the talk and ask questions during an open Q&A. Book club members will receive promo codes for book discounts, opportunities to win signed copies and more!

The book talks will be held virtually on Zoom from 7 - 8 p.m. EST the last Tuesday of every month. Members will receive the Zoom link the morning of each event. They will also receive the video recap. 

Featured authors include:

January 26 - Former Mayor Dennis Archer & Elizabeth Ann Atkins, Let the Future Begin

February 23 - Rochelle Riley, That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World

March 30 - Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, All Rise

April 27 - Desiree Cooper, Know the Mother

May 25 - Suneel Gupta, Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You

June 29 - Michael Zadoorian, The Narcissism of Small Differences

July 27 - Tony Schwartz, Dealing with the Devil: My Mother, Trump, and Me

August 31 - Amy Haimerl, Detroit Hustle 

September 28 - John U. Bacon, Let Them Lead (Coming 2021!) 

October 26 - Lee Thomas, Turning White

November 30 - Ron Fournier, Love That Boy

December 28 - Amy Nielander, Grama's Hug and The Ladybug Race

Pricing:

Annual membership is $100.

Non-members can purchase single tickets for $15 per book talk.

Memberships can be gifted for the holidays, birthdays or other celebratory occasions! If gifting a membership, please provide the recipient’s name and email in the “Notes to Business” section so we can send them the Zoom invites!

Meet the Featured Authors

“Let the Future Begin” is the autobiography of Dennis W. Archer, born in Detroit, who rose from humble beginnings in the small town of Cassopolis, Michigan, to become a celebrated attorney, a Michigan Supreme Court Justice, a two-term Mayor of Detroit, and the first person of color to serve as President of the 400,000-member American Bar Association. 

Thanks to education, hard work, impeccable integrity and family values, Dennis Archer has blazed a trail of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession while laying a rock-solid foundation to transform Detroit into the comeback city of the millennium. He achieved this with the support of his wife Trudy, their sons, Dennis Jr. and Vincent, relatives, friends, and colleagues.

This inspiring book shares how he did it, and provides a blueprint for how to emulate his success and commitment to helping others. Order here.

About the Co-author:

Elizabeth Ann Atkins is a health advocate, spiritual advisor, bestselling author of 33 books, and award-winning TV show host. With a master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan, Elizabeth teamed up with her sister, Catherine M. Greenspan, to create Two Sisters Writing & Publishing, which has published 24 books in three years. The former Detroit News reporter whose work has appeared in The New York Times also shares her weight loss success story in her Amazon bestselling memoir, "God’s Answer Is Know: Lessons From a Spiritual Life." Elizabeth co-hosts the award-winning "MI Healthy Mind," a weekly TV show that aims to shatter stigmas around mental illness, addiction and abuse. She’s also a Detroit Writing Room coach who helps authors with memoirs, fiction and nonfiction. 

Rochelle Riley is Director of Arts and Culture for the city of Detroit. The author, essayist, blogger and arts advocate ended a nearly 20-year stint in 2019 as a columnist for the Detroit Free Press, where she was a leading voice for children, education, competent government and race. She is author of “The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery” (Wayne State University Press, 2018), which garnered rave reviews and remains one of the Top Ten sellers in Michigan’s independent bookstores. She travels the country hosting conversations about the burden that America still bears because it refuses to deal with the aftermath of American enslavement. She also is co-author of the upcoming “That They Lived,” a collection of essays and photographs about famous African Americans that all children should know (Wayne State University Press, 2021).

Rochelle received the 2017 Eugene C. Pulliam Editorial Fellowship from the Society of Professional Journalists to study how trauma impedes how children learn and the 2017 Ida B. Wells Award from the National Association of Black Journalists “for her outstanding efforts to make newsrooms and news coverage more accurately reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.” She received the Will Rogers Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for community service, the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and the 2020 Daily Tar Heel Distinguished Alumnus award at UNC.

Rochelle was a 2007-2008 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, where she studied online communities and film. She was a 2016 inductee into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame and a 2019 inductee into the N.C. Media and Journalism Hall of Fame. Rochelle is a co-founder of Letters to Black Girls, an initiative to give letters of advice and encouragement from women across the country to girls across the country.

About the Book:
In February 2017, Rochelle Riley was reading Twitter posts and came across a series of black-and-white photos of four-year-old Lola dressed up as different African American women who had made history. Rochelle was immediately smitten. She was so proud to see this little girl so powerfully honor the struggle and achievement of women several decades her senior. Rochelle reached out to Lola’s mom, Cristi Smith-Jones, and asked to pair her writing with Smith-Jones’s incredible photographs for a book. The goal? To teach children on the cusp of puberty that they could be anything they aspired to be, that every famous person was once a child who, in some cases, overcame great obstacles to achieve. 

“That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World” features Riley’s grandson, Caleb, and Lola photographed in timeless black and white, dressed as important individuals such as business owners, educators, civil rights leaders, and artists, alongside detailed biographies that begin with the figures as young children who had the same ambitions, fears, strengths, and obstacles facing them that readers today may still experience. Muhmmad Ali’s bike was stolen when he was twelve years old and the police officer he reported the crime to suggested he learn how to fight before he caught up with the thief. Bessie Coleman, the first African American female aviator, collected and washed her neighbors’ dirty laundry so she could raise enough money for college. When Duke Ellington was seven years old, he preferred playing baseball to attending the piano lessons his mom had arranged. 

“That They Lived” fills in gaps in the history that American children have been taught for generations. For African American children, it will prove that they are more than descendants of the enslaved. For all children, it will show that every child can achieve great things and work together to make the world a better place for all. Order here.

Judge Rosemarie Aquilina earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Western Michigan Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1984 after earning her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Michigan State University in 1979. She began her legal career working in the Michigan Senate as an Administrative Assistant after which, she opened Aquilina Law Firm, PLC. Judge Aquilina became part of Michigan’s history as the first female JAG Officer in the Michigan Army National Guard where she served honorably for twenty years. Judge Aquilina also made history when she allowed 156 Sister-Survivors and other victims for a total of 169 victims to speak over seven days in the People v Nassar case. She, again made history as the first female professor to speak at the MSU College of Law Commencement in the Spring of 2018. 

Judge Aquilina has served as a civilian judge for sixteen years. During her first four, she served as Chief Judge and Sobriety Court Judge in the 55th District Court, during which time she founded the Ingham County Sobriety Court Foundation to assist those in recovery. Judge Aquilina was then elected to the 30th Circuit Court for Ingham County, where she has served for twelve years. Judge Aquilina also serves as an Adjunct Professor and has received exceptional teaching awards at both Western Michigan Thomas M. Cooley Law School and at Michigan State University College of Law. Additionally, Judge Aquilina is a published fiction author. 

Her novel, “Feel No Evil,” made its debut in 2003. “Triple Cross Killer” debuted in December 2017 and is now in its second edition. It is the first in a detective series, and was named in Michigan’s top ten fiction bestsellers in 2018. “All Rise” a cozy mystery was released May 2020. December 10, 2020 is the expected release date of her life story, “Just Watch Me,” with Audible, as part of the First Originals from Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine is her most current project. She has five children and three grandchildren and resides in East Lansing, Michigan.  

About the Book:
Arrested by detectives for murder of the Chief Judge, former Judge Nicoletta Kikkra learns there isn’t any problem that can’t be solved out of her recently opened Ratification Hair Salon, Spa & Café. Nicoletta’s cowboy boots, every day is wedding hair spray day, and sense of humor keeps everyone around her in good spirits even when twelve inexplicable bank accounts totaling $1.2 million are discovered in her name—money that detectives pinpoint is her motive to kill. Nicoletta quickly loses control over her life as former court staff and grateful rehabilitated felons, pets included, transplant themselves into her life to help solve the murder while ensuring her new business succeeds and she remains a free woman. 

To complicate matters, to the rescue comes ex-husband, Dexter Breckenridge, with a million dollars of bond money and even more reasons to hire Nicoletta’s ex-boyfriend Hunter Greene, a private investigator, to help solve the murder. Throw into the mix her handsome boyfriend, Australian attorney Sebastian Pierce who represents her. The three men who know her best persistently try to solve the murder always trying to outshine each other much to her infuriation. The trail leads to more murders, high-speed car chases, flying bullets, snakes and suspects and Nicoletta quickly realizes Dark Money and court insiders may not only be behind Chief Judge Warren Donnettelli’s murder but now they want her dead. Order here. 

Desiree Cooper is a 2015 Kresge Artist Fellow, former attorney and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist. Her debut collection of flash fiction, “Know the Mother,” is a 2017 Michigan Notable Book that has won numerous awards, including 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award. Cooper’s fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in The Best Small Fictions 2018, Callaloo, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Rumpus, River Teeth, and Best African American Fiction 2010, among other publications. Her essay, “We Have Lost Too Many Wigs,” was listed as a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2019.  In 2018, she wrote, produced and co-directed “The Choice,” a short film about reproductive rights and recipient of a 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Berlin Flash Film Festival, and Award of Merit from the Best Short Film Festival in Los Angeles. Cooper was a founding board member of Cave Canem, a national residency for black poets, and has received residencies at Kimbilio and Ragdale.    

About the Book:

In “Know the Mother,” author Desiree Cooper powerfully reveals how gender and race are often unanticipated interlopers in family life. An anxious woman reflects on her early reluctance to become a mother as she waits for her grown-up daughter to make it home. A lawyer miscarries during a conference call. On a rare night out with her husband, a new mother tries convincing herself that everything is still the same. The intricately woven vignettes pull you in and then are gone in an instant. Readers of short fiction will appreciate this deeply felt collection. Order here. 

Suneel Gupta is on faculty at Harvard University where he teaches students how to be Backable. Using the 7 steps inside this book, Suneel went from being the face of failure for the New York Times to being the “New Face of Innovation” for the New York Stock Exchange. His ideas have been backed by firms like Greylock and Google Ventures, and he has invested in startups including Airbnb, Calm, and SpaceX. Suneel also serves as an emissary for Gross National Happiness between the United States and the Kingdom of Bhutan. He resides in Metro Detroit.

About the Book:

No one makes it alone. But there’s a reason why some people can get investors or bosses to believe in them while others cannot. And that reason has little to do with experience, pedigree or a polished business plan. Backable people seem to have a hidden quality that inspires others to take action. We often chalk this up to natural talent or charisma…either you have “it” or you don’t.  

After getting rejected by every investor he pitched, Suneel Gupta had a burning question: could “it” be learned?

Drawing lessons from hundreds of the world’s biggest thinkers, Suneel discovered how to pitch new ideas in a way that has raised millions of dollars, influenced large-scale change inside massive corporations, and even convinced his 8-year-old daughter to clean her room. Inside are long-held secrets from producers of Oscar-winning films, members of Congress, military leaders, culinary stars, venture capitalists, founders of unicorn-status startups, and executives at iconic companies like Lego, Method, and Pixar.

Backable reveals how the key to success is not charisma, connections, or even your resume, but rather your ability to persuade others to take a chance on you. This groundbreaking book will show you how.

Pre-order here.

Michael Zadoorian is the author of four novels, “The Narcissism of Small Differences,” “Beautiful Music,” “The Leisure Seeker” and “Second Hand,” as well as a story collection, “The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit.” A motion picture of “The Leisure Seeker” starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland was released by Sony Pictures Classics in 2018. Zadoorian is a recipient of a Kresge Artist Fellowship in the Literary Arts, the Columbia University Anahid Literary award, the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers award, the GLIBA Great Lakes Great Reads award and two Michigan Notable Book awards. His work has appeared in “The Literary Review,” “Beloit Fiction Journal,” “American Short Fiction,” “Witness,” “Great Lakes Review,” “North American Review,” “Literary Hub,” “The Millions,” Huffington Post, and the anthologies “Bob Seger’s House,” “Looping Detroit,” and “Detroit Noir.” He is a lifelong resident of the Detroit area.

About the Book:
Joe Keen and Ana Urbanek have been a couple for a long time, with all the requisite lulls and temptations, yet they remain unmarried and without children, contrary to their Midwestern values (and parents’ wishes). Now on the cusp of forty, each of them are working at jobs that they’re not even sure they believe in anymore, but with significantly varying returns. Ana is successful, Joe is floundering – both in limbo, caught somewhere between mainstream and alternative culture, sincerity and irony, achievement and arrested development.

Set against the backdrop of bottomed-out 2009 Detroit, a once great American city now in transition, part decaying and part striving to be reborn, “The Narcissism of Small Differences” is the story of an aging creative class, doomed to ask the questions: Is it possible to outgrow irony? Does not having children make you one? Is there even such a thing as selling out anymore?

More than a comedy of manners, “The Narcissism of Small Differences” is a comedy of compromise: the financial compromises we make to feed ourselves; the moral compromises that justify our questionable actions, the everyday compromises we all make just to survive in the world. Yet it’s also about the consequences of those compromises and the people we become because of them — in our quest for a life that is our own and no one else’s. Order here.

Tony Schwartz is the founder and CEO of The Energy Project, a consulting firm that helps individuals and organizations more skillfully manage their energy so they can thrive in a world of relentlessly rising demand and complexity. Tony began his career as a journalist and he has been a reporter for The New York Times, a writer for Newsweek, and a contributing writer to New York Magazine and Esquire. Tony is the author of six books, including “The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy Not Time” which spent 28 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and “The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working,” also a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. In his new audiobook, “Dealing with the Devil,” he confronts the shame that arose after he helped craft a persona for Donald Trump in “The Art of the Deal” that 30 years later aided in his election as president.

About the Audiobook:

Why are we the way we are? Who can we become? What stands in our way?

In “Dealing with the Devil,” Tony Schwartz investigates these sweeping questions by fiercely reckoning with his own life choices, regrets, and aspirations. He confronts the shame that arose after he helped craft a persona for Donald Trump in “The Art of the Deal” that 30 years later aided in his election as president. He provides a window into understanding our complicated relationship with Trump, and the Trump in each of us. Finally, Schwartz explores how the experience of writing “The Art of the Deal” prompted him to take an entirely different path in his life.

This path led Schwartz to a lifelong exploration of the factors that shape our beliefs and identity, the influence of our early caregivers, and the ways that we can heal and grow by accepting and acknowledging both the best and the worst in ourselves. Schwartz’s story is defined not by his time with Trump, but rather by his lifelong quest to become a better human being — as a husband, a father, a grandfather and as the CEO of a company devoted to helping others more skillfully and wisely manage their lives. Order here. 

Amy Haimerl is an independent journalist who covers small business, entrepreneurship and urban policy for the New York Times and other publications. She is also an editor-in-residence at Michigan State University and the author of “Detroit Hustle," her memoir of moving from Brooklyn to the Motor City. She always has at least one book started and is the founder of the Shady Ladies Literary Society, which curates conversations with unforgettable women writers, artists and scientists. She lives in Detroit with her husband and a country band of critters: Hank (The Tank) Williams, June Carter Cat and Willie (The Overlord) Nelson. 

About the Book:
Journalist Amy Haimerl and her husband had been priced out of their Brooklyn neighborhood. Seeing this as a great opportunity to start over again, they decide to cash in their savings and buy an abandoned house for 35,000 in Detroit, the largest city in the United States to declare bankruptcy.

As she and her husband restore the 1914 Georgian Revival, a stately brick house with no plumbing, no heat, and no electricity, Amy finds a community of Detroiters who, like herself, aren't afraid of a little hard work or things that are a little rough around the edges. Filled with amusing and touching anecdotes about navigating a real-estate market that is rife with scams, finding a contractor who is a lover of C.S. Lewis and willing to quote him liberally, and neighbors who either get teary-eyed at the sight of newcomers or urge Amy and her husband to get out while they can, Amy writes evocatively about the charms and challenges of finding her footing in a city whose future is in question. Detroit Hustle is a memoir that is both a meditation on what it takes to make a house a home, and a love letter to a much-derided city. Order here.

New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon has written twelve books on sports, business, health, and history. His upcoming book, “Let Them Lead: Unexpected Lessons from America’s Worst High School Hockey Team,” will be released in September 2021. 

He freelances for The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, and others, appears often on TV, including HBO, ESPN, Fox Business, MSNBC, and the Big Ten Network, and delivers weekly essays for Michigan Radio and occasionally NPR, which awarded him the PRNDI prize for nation's best commentary in 2014. 

He is a popular public speaker, who teaches at the University of Michigan, where the students awarded him the Golden Apple in 2009. 

John is also a decent Spanish speaker, an average hockey player, and a poor piano player, but he still enjoys all three! He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and son.

About the Book:
An uplifting leadership book about a coach who helped transform the nation’s worst high school hockey team into one of the best. Bacon’s strategy is straightforward: set high expectations, make them accountable to each other, and inspire them all to lead their team.

When John U. Bacon played for the Ann Arbor Huron High School River Rats, he never scored a goal. Yet somehow, years later he found himself leading his alma mater’s downtrodden program. How bad? The team hadn’t won a game in over a year, making them the nation’s worst squad—a fact they celebrated. With almost everyone expecting more failure, Bacon made it special to play for Huron by making it hard, which inspired the players to excel. Then he defied conventional wisdom again by putting the players in charge of team discipline, goal-setting, and even decision-making – and it worked. In just three seasons the River Rats bypassed 95-percent of the nation’s teams.

A true story filled with unforgettable characters, stories, and lessons that apply to organizations everywhere, “Let Them Lead” includes the leader’s mistakes and the reactions of the players, who have since achieved great success as leaders themselves. “Let Them Lead” is a fast-paced, feel-good book that leaders of all kinds can embrace to motivate their teams to work harder, work together, and take responsibility for their own success.

As a broadcaster, Lee Thomas' career started on Channel One News, a national news program for teenagers based in New York City.  While with Channel One, Lee covered the Oscars, interviewed orbiting astronauts and was on the ground reporting during the LA riots of 1991.  In 1994 Lee was hired as the entertainment and feature reporter for ABC's flagship local affiliate, WABC 7, the number one station in NYC where he established himself as an engaging entertaining reporter. From there he was off to Detroit as a weekend anchor and entertainment reporter at WJBK TV.   

The Motor City is home. While in Detroit, Lee has won four Emmy Awards and an Associated Press Award. He is currently an anchor, host, movie critic and a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), African American Film Critic Association, National Association of Black Journalist, National Speaker Association (NSA) and The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artist (SAG-AFTRA). Lee is the Co-founder of the Vstrong Vitiligo Support Community and the international spokesperson for The Vitiligo Society Of London. 

Early in his career, Lee was diagnosed with vitiligo, an autoimmune disease that destroys the skin's pigment. As a television broadcaster that could mean disaster, but he found a way to not only survive but to thrive. Lee says, "The thing that I thought would be a show stopper, turned out to be the biggest challenge and blessing in my life." Over the years, Lee has been featured on various TV, radio and social media outlets around the world. Lee's award-winning memoir "Turning White" has sold thousands of copies and counting.  

About the Book: 

In his thought-provoking memoir, “Turning White,” Emmy Award-winning TV broadcaster Lee Thomas shares the physical and mental battle he is waging with vitiligo — a skin disorder that is literally turning him white.

At age 25, Thomas had a dream job in a dream city — a feature/entertainment reporter for the ABC network’s flagship TV station in New York. Then he discovered a few white spots on his scalp, the small beginnings of a disease that has spread to half his face — a fact he covers with makeup when on camera.

As someone in the very public eye, vitiligo has transformed not only Thomas’ color, but his life. “Even people who have known me for years avoid eye contact when they see my face without makeup for the first time,” he writes. Order here. 

Ron Fournier is the former publisher and editor of Crain’s Detroit Business and now serves as president at Truscott Rossman. As president, Ron helps guide and manage the direction of the firm, including leveraging media, policy-maker and business relationships in Detroit and Washington D.C. Prior to joining Crain’s in September 2016, Ron was an award-winning editor and political writer in Washington, where he served as a columnist for The Atlantic, editor-in-chief of the National Journal, and Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.He also served as a 2005 fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics, where he co-wrote the New York Times best-seller “Applebee’s America.” Before returning to Detroit in the fall of 2016, Fournier published a parenting memoir, “Love That Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent’s Expectations.” It debuted No. 10 on Amazon.com and was a New York Times bestseller.

A Detroit native, he began his family and career in Arkansas, covering then-governor Clinton before moving to Washington in 1993. Ron holds the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award for coverage of the 2000 presidential election and he is a four-time winner of the prestigious White House Correspondents’ Association Merriman Smith Memorial Award. Ron is a Detroit Writing Room coach. Profits from his coaching sessions are donated to the Autism Alliance of Michigan.

About the Book:

“Love That Boy” is a uniquely personal story about the causes and costs of outsized parental expectations. What we want for our children—popularity, normalcy, achievement, genius—and what they truly need—grit, empathy, character—are explored by Ron Fournier, who weaves his extraordinary journey to acceptance around the latest research on childhood development and stories of other loving-but-struggling parents. Order here.

Amy Nielander is a College for Creative Studies alum and children’s picture book author-illustrator. Her first wordless picture book, “The Ladybug Race,” exhibited at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair as a finalist in the Silent Book Contest. After her book was published by PomegranateKids, she received a Bronze Medal Book Award in the Children's Picture Books All Ages Category by Independent Publisher. In 2020, she was selected by the Muskegon Museum of Art as one of the twenty Michigan Illustrators to participate in the 20 for 20: Celebrating Michigan Illustrators Exhibit. 

Amy loves visiting schools and sharing her picture book making process with children. Her second picture book, “Grama’s Hug,” is published by Page Street Kids and received a starred review from Booklist. As a Detroit Writing Room coach, she is eager to help her clients complete projects as well as navigate the traditional publishing submission process. When she is not working on picture books, she enjoys traveling with her family, going on walks with her havanese and being her kids year round cheerleader.

About the Books:

“Grama’s Hug”

May and Grama are a team. They do everything together, from birdwatching to preparing for the annual space fair. And they never, ever say goodbye without a hug. May’s love of science takes her far as her inventions win year after year, helped by Grama’s support, effort, and love. She travels to space camp and eventually beyond, earning her spot as the first kid astronaut to journey into space. As May prepares for her mission to explore the cosmos, she seems ready to go without looking back. Will she forget to leave without saying goodbye to Grama?

This picture book explores the importance of treasuring even the smallest moments with people you love. Readers will enjoy the heartwarming illustrations, expressive characters, and delightful touches of whimsy. Order here.

"The Ladybug Race”

Contrary to popular belief, there is more than one way to win a race. One tiny Ash Gray Ladybug believes he can win by being compassionate and kind to others. Brimming with color and movement, The Ladybug Race is a wordless picture book joining hundreds of ladybugs from around the world. 

This picture book introduces children to teamwork, compassion and grace. Readers will enjoy the true-to-scale ladybug illustrations and using their own words to tell the story. Order here.